Should My Kid Be Vegan?

Should my kid be vegan?

Overall, vegan diets can be a very healthful way of eating. But is it an ideal diet for growing kids?

Hopefully, when you think of a vegan diet it is one with a wide variety of colorful vegetables, fruit, lentils, legumes, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. Not just a plate void of animal products, like meat, dairy, eggs, etc.

So, if we are eating a diet rich in the foods listed above and little to no processed junk food, what are the down sides to this way of eating?

Most vegan diets tend to be lower in fat and protein if the person is not conscious to consume adequate amounts. Fats, as a rule, are not ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Nature itself doesn’t usually make ‘bad fats’. It is usually after we process, extract or transform fats when they become less desirable.

While vegan diets have numerous health promoting effects such as potentially lowering LDL cholesterol and balancing blood lipids overall (Resnicow et al, 1991). Studies repeatedly suggest a vegan diet adopted by a child often results in growth and development rates in the lower reference ranges. This means these children tend to be smaller in height and stature (Schürmann, Kersting and Alexy, 2017).

In an older study of 23 vegan children followed from ages one to five years, the kids grew normally but again tended to be smaller in height and build. They also showed a low dietary intake of vitamin B12, B2, vitamin D, calcium, and total calories (Sanders, 1988; Sanders, & Purves, 1981).

Finally, a German study that followed infants for the first year of life and compared groups of vegetarian diets and ‘mixed diets’.

“Children on purevegan diet need ongoing elaborate dietary strategies and continuous supplementation at any age, similar to nutritional management in children with metabolic disorders. A vegan diet is disadvised during all periods with intense growth and development.”